Viewpoint

Craig Jepson, Mayor of Kaipara mayor@kaipara.govt.nz

Exploring waste options

Northland Regional Council, and Kaipara, Whangarei and Far North District Councils have committed to investigate the feasibility of introducing waste to energy (WtE) for dealing with our solid waste streams. It is not possible to have this discussion without examining the comparative emissions from a landfill such as proposed at the headwaters of the Hoteo, which discharges to our unique Kaipara Harbour.

In terms of landfill emission to air, soil, and water, you cannot readily manage what you cannot measure. It is a committal to hundreds of years of discharge to our environment. There is no ‘off’ switch on a landfill.

The 2022 NZ Ministry for the Environment – New Zealand Dioxin Inventory lists landfill and their associated fires as contributing more than 55 per cent of our country’s yearly dioxin emissions. These landfill emissions have steadily increased since 2012.

WtE plants require continuous emission monitoring systems to ensure they are optimally operating. Comparing earlier WtE versions to modern operations is like comparing a Tiger Moth to a 747. Since the introduction of maximum available control technology (MACT) in 1987 dioxin levels internationally have fallen by 99.9%. In France, over the same period emissions fell from 435 TEQ to just 1.2g TEQ. By comparison, residential wood combustion (household fireplace) annually produces 320g TEQ compared to Frances 100 WTE plants producing just 1.2g TEQ. Records show that more than 800 WtE plants